Join us for a celebration of Roscoe, William Kennedy's landmark novel of Albany politics, circa 1945, in all its crooked splendor: the backroom dealings and no-bid contracts, the patronage and no-show jobs, the vote buying and bags of cash, the kickbacks, bribes and assorted inducements, not to mention the city-sanctioned gambling halls and prostitution rings!

 

Bring your favorite ward heeler, crooked judge, or any friend or relative looking for a place on the payroll!

 

In previous seasons, we've hosted marathon readings of Kennedy's novels, Ironweed in 2023, Billy Phelan's Greatest Game in 2024, and Legs in 2025.

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Our cosponsor, Albany Distilling Co., maker of Ironweed whiskey, is located in the North Albany neighborhood where William Kennedy grew up, and where some of the fictional scenes in the Depression-era narrative take place.

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About the book

“Thick with crime, passion, and backroom banter” (The New Yorker), Roscoe is an odyssey of great scope and linguistic verve, a deadly, comic masterpiece from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Ironweed.

It's V-J Day, the war is over, and Roscoe Conway, after twenty-six years as the second in command of Albany's notorious political machine, decides to quit politics forever. But there's no way out, and only his Machiavellian imagination can help him cope with the erupting disasters.

Every step leads back to the past—to the early loss of his true love, the takeover of city hall, the machine's fight with FDR and Al Smith to elect a governor, and the methodical assassination of gangster Jack "Legs" Diamond.

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Donations will be collected at the door to benefit the food pantry and free meal outreach at Sacred Heart Church, 33 Walter St. in Albany, which was Kennedy’s childhood parish.